Lewis Hamilton was slapped with two penalty points on Sunday at the Italian Grand Prix, following an unfortunate collision with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
The seven-time World Champion would’ve likely expected to have been on the receiving end of a couple of penalty points, with the Mercedes driver having accepted full responsibility for colliding with Piastri at the entry to Turn 4.
Hamilton cut across the front of Piastri whilst sweeping around the outside of Curva Grande for ninth place, whilst the 38-year-old was on superior tyres.
Piastri was on old Hards whilst Hamilton was on fresh Mediums, making him significantly quicker.
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However, Hamilton misjudged his overtake and appeared to think he’d completed it, before he actually had.
He broke Piastri’s front wing which ended the McLaren driver’s hopes of a top 10 finish, whilst Hamilton somehow escaped unscathed.
Hamilton did receive a five-second time penalty almost immediately, but this had little impact on his result as he finished in P6 by more than five seconds.
The FIA explained after the race why they decided to penalise Hamilton, who now has four penalty points.
“While overtaking Piastri at the entry to turn 4, Hamilton moved to the right in the braking zone and made contact with Piastri while Piastri was moving to the right away from him and was close to the side of the track,” the FIA stated.
As mentioned, Hamilton took full responsibility for the collision and was seen apologising to Piastri straight after the race.
“It was a bit unfortunate and I misjudged the gap I had with Piastri right at the end. It was totally my fault and I went and apologised to him straight afterwards and we move on,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.
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Piastri welcomed Hamilton’s apology and insists that there is “nothing more I can ask”, given that he was penalised by the stewards.
“The incident with Lewis, he probably just creeped over a bit more than he thought,” Piastri told Sky Sports F1.
“The stewards gave out their verdict and he has apologised so there is nothing more I can ask for or do at that point.”